Lipstick was an essential item in World War II

Even though any type of makeup was pretty scarce at the time, female nurses in the Second World War always wore red lipstick. This was done to remind the nurses that were still ladies, and it was also believed to have a calming effect on the injured soldiers.

It was a major drive of World War Two: to persuade Britain’s women to be glamorous above all else. A new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum charts their challenge in the face of a cosmetics blackout. Lipstick was considered an essential item for female nurses in the armed forces during the Second World War, both to remind women that they were ladies first and military second, and because it might have a calming effect on the male soldiers. (Although most experts now say that guys get really turned on when a girl wears red lipstick.)